Modernism
The desire or belief in progress
“Make it new”
Oratorio
Somewhat modeled after the opera. There is generally little or no interaction between the characters. Strictly a concert piece
Libretto
Text used in an extended musical work
Aria
Originally an expressive melody… now a self-contained piece for one voice usually with orchestral accompaniment
Recitative
A style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech
Opera Seria
An Italian musical term which refers to the noble and “serious” style of Italian opera
Opera Buffa
At first used as an informal description of Italian comic operas variously
Program Music
A type of art music intended to evoke extra-musical ideas, images in the mind of the listener by musically representing a scene, image or mood
Absolute Music
A term used to describe music that is not explicitly “about” anything, non-representational or non-objective
Incidental Music
Music in a play, television program, radio program, video game, film or some other form not primarily musical
Sprechstimme
Musical terms used to refer to an expressionist vocal technique between singing and speaking
Cabaret
Form of entertainment featuring comedy, song, dance, and theatre, distinguished mainly by the performance venue — a restaurant or nightclub with a stage for performances and the audience sitting at tables
Albert Giraud
A Belgian poet writing in the French language.
Lieder
A term for European romantic music songs, also known as art songs
Bel Canto
An Italian opera term
Verismo (realism)
An operatic movement which peaked between approximately 1875 and the early 1900s
Rodgers and Hammerstein
A well-known American songwriting duo. They created a string of popular Broadway musicals in the 1940s and 1950s with Rodgers composing the music and Hammerstein adding the lyrics
Oklahoma!
The first musical written by Rodgers and Hammerstein
Jukebox musical
A stage or film musical that uses previously released popular songs as its musical score
Temp Track
A temp track is an existing piece of music or audio which is used in film production during the editing phase
Leitmotif
A recurring musical theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea
Bernard Herrmann
An American composer noted for his work in motion pictures
Carl Stalling
A noted American composer and arranger of music for animated cartoons. He is most closely associated with the Looney Tunes shorts produced by Warner Bros
John Williams
An American composer, conductor, and pianist. In a career that spans six decades, Williams has composed many famous film scores in Hollywood history, including Star Wars, Superman, Born on the Fourth of July, Harry Potter and all but two of Steven Spielberg’s feature films including the Indiana Jones series, Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park and Jaws.
Erhu
Known in the West as the “Chinese violin” or “Chinese two-string fiddle.” A two-stringed bowed musical instrument, used as a solo instrument as well as in small ensembles and large orchestras. It is the most popular instrument in the “huqin” family of Chinese bowed string instruments